1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus in which unspecified many people can arbitrarily use it to obtain various kinds of information with a fee or without a fee.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various kinds of information have been provided in an electronic information mode in which they are recorded in a medium.
For example, a newspaper, a magazine, a novel, and the like are recorded in CD-ROMs or the like as electronic publications and are on stale. The same are applied to music, video (movie, video clip, etc.), game software, application software used in a personal computer, and the like, and various kinds of information (hereinafter, information recorded in a medium and provided will be generically referred to as xe2x80x9ccontentxe2x80x9d in the present specification) are provided with a fee or without a fee in an extremely wide range.
In the content which is electronized and is provided, there is content which a user keeps for a long period (music software, application software, etc.) and content which the user feels that long storage is unnecessary.
For example, when it is considered that a newspaper or a weekly magazine is electronized and provided, if the user sees the information once, it often becomes unnecessary thereafter.
In other words, it is not realistic to sell a newspaper or a magazine, as a package medium, in a keepable recording medium of a disk or card. For example, if the user sees the contents once, not only the information but also the medium itself becomes unnecessary, so that useless consumption of resources is caused.
On the other hand, with respect to the information which does not require long storage, it is also carried out for a user to search or download arbitrarily from his own terminal (personal computer, etc.) through communication such as the Internet. However, in this case, of course, in order to see the contents of the information, the user must be in a place (home, office, etc.) where the terminal is set. For example, in the case where the user desires to see the contents of the information at an arbitrary place through a portable disk reproducing apparatus or the like, it is necessary to further download the information from the terminal to a disk medium or the like.
Besides, in order to obtain content such as an electrical newspaper through communication, it is naturally necessary for the user to possess the terminal connected to a communication network.
From the above circumstances, it has been required to realize such that a general user can easily obtain a medium which records content such as an electronic newspaper or magazine, and the user can confirm the content at an arbitrary place by using, for example, a portable reproducing apparatus or a home terminal, and further, waste of the medium itself does not occur.
Besides, when considering an apparatus in which a general user can obtain a medium which records content, it is also required that inventory control can be simply made.
In view of the foregoing circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a content providing system in which unspecified many people arbitrarily use it to obtain (purchase) a recording medium in which desired content has been downloaded, and the recording medium itself can be effectively used, and further, inventory control of the recording medium recording the content to be sold can be made simple and adequate.
According to an aspect of the invention, an information providing apparatus comprises: a loading section in which a recording medium including use state identification information indicating one of a personal use and an unspecified user""s use is loaded; recording means for recording content information in the recording medium loaded in the loading section; use state detecting means for detecting which of the personal use and the unspecified user""s use the use state identification information of the recording medium loaded in the loading section indicates; ejecting means for ejecting the recording medium to an outside of the apparatus; content detecting means for detecting a kind of content information to be recorded in the recording medium ejected by the ejecting means; a housing section capable of housing a recording medium in which one of various kinds of content information is recorded in advance; and control means, wherein when the use state detecting means detects that the use state identification information of the recording medium indicates the personal use, the control means controls the recording means so that the content information of the kind detected by the content detecting means is recorded in the recording medium loaded in the loading section, and then, the control means controls the ejecting means so that the recording medium loaded in the loading section is ejected; and when the use state detecting means detects that the use state identification information of the recording medium indicates the unspecified user""s use, the control means controls the ejecting means so that the recording medium in which the content information of the kind detected by the content detecting means is recorded is ejected among recording media housed in the housing section.
According to another aspect of the invention, an information providing apparatus comprises: a housing section capable of housing a plurality of recording media in which any one of plural kinds of contents information is recorded in advance; content detecting means for detecting a kind of content information required by a user; ejecting means for ejecting a recording medium in which the content information of the kind detected by the content detecting means among recording media housed in the housing section; remaining recording medium detecting means for detecting whether or not the remaining number of the recording media which are housed in the housing section and in which each kind of content information is recorded, is a minimum threshold value or less; and replenishing means for replenishing the recording medium in which the content information of the kind detected by the remaining recording medium detecting means such that the remaining number is the minimum threshold value or less.
According to further aspect of the invention, an information providing apparatus comprises: a loading section in which a recording medium is loaded; content identification information detecting means for detecting content identification information of the recording medium loaded in the loading section; setting means for setting content information on the basis of the content identification information detected by the content identification information detecting means; housing section capable of housing a plurality of recording media in which content information indicated by the content identification information is recorded in advance; and ejecting means for ejecting, among recording media housed in the housing section, a recording medium in which the content information coincident with the content information set by the setting means is recorded.
According to still further aspect of the invention, a recording medium which loaded in an information providing apparatus in a removable manner and in which content information can be recorded by the information providing apparatus, wherein the recording medium comprises: a recording medium main body; and a content identification section including content identification information indicating a kind of content information which can be detected by the information providing apparatus.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a method of providing content comprises the steps of: detecting which of a personal use and an unspecified user""s use is indicated by use state identification information of a recording medium loaded in a loading section; detecting a kind of content information to be recorded in a recording medium ejected by ejecting means; wherein when it is detected in the step of detecting a use state that the use state identification information of the recording medium indicates the personal use, recording the content information of the kind detected in the step of detecting the kind of the content information in the recording medium loaded in the loading section, and then, controlling the ejecting means so that the recording medium loaded in the loading section is ejected; and when it is detected in the step of detecting the use state that the use state identification information of the recording medium indicates the unspecified user""s use, controlling the ejecting means so that, among recording media housed in a housing section capable of housing recording media in which any one of various kinds of content information is recorded in advance, the recording medium in which the content information of the same kind as the kind detected in the step of detecting the kind of the content information is recorded, is ejected.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a method of providing content comprises: step (a) of detecting a kind of content information required by a user; step (b) of ejecting a recording medium in which the content information of the kind detected in the step (b) is recorded, among recording media housed in a housing section capable of housing a plurality of recording media in which any one of various kinds of content information is recorded in advance; step (c) of detecting whether or not the remaining number of recording media which are housed in the housing section and in which each kind of content information is recorded is a minimum threshold value or less; and step (d) of replenishing the recording medium in which the content information of the kind which has been detected in the step (c) that the remaining number is the minimum threshold value or less, is recorded.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a method of providing content comprises the steps of: detecting content identification information of a recording medium loaded in a loading section; setting content information on the basis of the content identification information detected by the step of detecting the content identification information; and ejecting a recording medium in which content information coincident with the content information set at the setting step is recorded, among recording media housed in a housing section capable of housing a plurality of recording media in which the content information indicated by the content identification information is recorded in advance.